The book examines how the Belfast Agreement came about and its effect on unionism, nationalism, the paramilitaries, electoral support for local parties and the constitutional position of Northern Ireland. It also considers the extent to which the Agreement may be regarded as an exercise in political cynicism or the basis for lasting peace.

This title examines the political content of the unionist and nationalist ideologies which have emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Ireland.

First published in 1999, this volume was the third in a trilogy on the 'problem' of Northern Ireland. It examines the political content of the unionist and nationalist 'ideologies' which have emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Ireland. The focus of the book is also to examine and assess the impact of unionist and nationalist thinking and commitment on political and economic life in the twentieth century.

First published in 1999, this volume was the third in a trilogy on the 'problem' of Northern Ireland. It examines the political content of the unionist and nationalist 'ideologies' which have emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Ireland. The focus of the book is also to examine and assess the impact of unionist and nationalist thinking and commitment on political and economic life in the twentieth century.

The book examines how the Belfast Agreement came about and its effect on unionism, nationalism, the paramilitaries, electoral support for local parties and the constitutional position of Northern Ireland. It also considers the extent to which the Agreement may be regarded as an exercise in political cynicism or the basis for lasting peace.

Barton and Roche have drawn on the expertise of scholars in Irish history, political philosophy, sociology, demography and criminal and constitutional law to provide a major contribution to understanding the dynamics of the terrorist conflict that engulfed Northern Ireland for thirty years. The legal dimension of the book provides accessible understanding both of the use of the criminal law in response to terrorism and of the constitutional status of Northern Ireland prior to the 1998 Belfast Agreement. The Northern Ireland Question: Myth and Reality explicates the civic character of unionism which differentiates unionism as a form of political identity from the ethnicity of traditional Irish nationalism. The contributions explore the ambiguities of southern Irish politics with respect to 'the Northern Ireland question' and challenge a conventional and widely accepted understanding (inimical to unionism and unionists) of the genesis of the terrorist conflict in Northern Ireland and the extent of discrimination under the Stormont administration but without loss of objectivity and professional detachment.